Slices
by bofoddity
Summary: A collection of 100-word drabbles, based on original game canon. Features gen and occasional pairings.
1. Pass the Legacy

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**Pass the Legacy**

When he's old, Cloud puts his swords on sale.

He and Tifa are both silent as they collect them all, admiring the blades that are still untouched by rust and testing how their weight feels in their hands. Cloud takes pride in the way he can still hold the Ultima Weapon with untrembling fingers, how the hilt still seems to be molded to his touch.

Putting the last sword away makes him ache, but when Tifa asks him if he's sure, her hand gentle on his shoulder, he says: "It's time for somebody else to do good with them."


	2. Hopeful

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**Hopeful**

Tifa had never been in Cloud's house before, and both she and Mrs. Strife knew it. They kept smiling at each other in discomfort until the phone rang.

"Hello, Cloud." Tifa crossed her ankles under the table and rubbed them together, trying to remember things she wanted to say to Cloud and failing. She hoped he wouldn't snicker at her if she ended up stammering. She hoped she wouldn't stammer at all.

"Tifa from next door is here. Would you like to talk to her?"

Tifa held her breath.

The receiver was put down.

"Maybe some other day."

Tifa stared at her hands. Some other day.


	3. For Future Reference

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**A/N: **Inspired by **delladella**'s Outmoded.

**For Future Reference**

Zack's girlfriend could have been a model. It was so easy to take a good photograph of her and she didn't even know that Cloud was around.

Cloud wondered how scared she would have been if she only had turned around enough, seen him in the shadows. Only thing she knew about Cloud was the uniform he wore.

He knew that Zack would be terrified if Cloud told him that he knew about Zack's girlfriend, that he could tell Shin-Ra where she was. Zack had protected the secret so hard. But he didn't have anything to worry about. Cloud wouldn't tell anybody.

Yet.


	4. Paying Respects

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**A/N:** AU.

**Paying Respects**

_It must have been beautiful here when the Meteor came down._

Cloud watched the town before him, imagining red flare on the snow. The frosty ground moaned beneath his boots when he walked over to Professor Gast's house, ignoring the bite of the cold on his cheeks. Nobody would bother him; apocalypse usually kept people inside for a while.

Had Aeris ever made it this far, she might have touched the door with wonder, aching to know about life behind it. Pity there was no way to know. If otherwise, he might have felt something when he set the house on fire.


	5. Anniversary

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**Anniversary**

When Nanaki turns 300, his friends in AVALANCHE are long-gone, their descendants impossible to track. But when his human friends bring him a cake made of beef and his children gather around him, he smiles.

"Grandpa's going to cry," one of his grandchildren laughs, and Nanaki recalls a time he thought he would die the last of his kind, a time he and Tanja believed they would never have children who lived. None of those around him know the grief of those years. It's a blessing.

"I believe I will." His children laugh out, chasing the rest of his sadness away.


	6. In the Noon

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**A/N: **AU.

**In the Noon**

"Professor," Ingrid said, "your son is waiting out there."

A while ago, the President had told Hojo that his son could use company near his age, and that Hojo's child was good enough to qualify. Rufus had even been interested. Hojo couldn't understand why his boy wasn't.

"He asked me if he could come inside," Ingrid continued, her voice amused in a way that annoyed Hojo. "I think he wants to watch you work."

He couldn't understand at all.

"Very well."

When Cloud walked inside with a beaming smile, Hojo looked away. He didn't know how to deal with it.


	7. Saving of Face

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**Saving of Face**

What a horrible night. The spooky hotel would haunt Yuffie forever, Cloud was a jerk and Cait Sith had turned out to be a sleaze. On top of it all, Yuffie was getting pity-walked back to her room.

"Hey."

They were at the door, and she wanted to flee. But something about his presence behind her prompted her to turn around.

"Sorry for wasting your-"

A kiss landed, gentle, on her forehead.

"No waste." He gave her a soft smile and left.

Yuffie tried to open the door, but her hand was suddenly too weak to co-operate. Damn that bastard.


	8. Adjustments

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**Adjustments**

Back in Corel, Barret hadn't known violence. He used to read to children at the library. He had sung in a choir during weekends. Neither those things helped a man going to a war, but they helped a new father.

He never had much money for nice things, but he bought Marlene stories of warrior princesses to last for many nights, and sung her to sleep on every one of them. Sometimes he was caught humming to himself, always catching snickers. But Barret didn't mind. It wasn't much of a talent, but a talent nevertheless, and a talent well used.


	9. A Little Help From My Friends

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**A/N:** Play on the "Cait is Reeve's other personality" idea that sometimes pops up in fandom.

**A Little Help From My Friends**

The foster family was nice, but Reeve didn't trust them yet. Cait did his best to help him change that.

"Just watch," Cait said with a wink, and started to run water out of Reeve's eyes. The foster mother immediately came over, drawing Reeve in her warm embrace.

"It's all right now," both she and Cait said, and Cait added: "And if that changes, I'll take care of everything again. That's a promise!"

Cait went hiding again, leaving Reeve and the foster mother alone. Reeve leaned into the steady arms around him and began to relax. His heart was hopeful.


	10. Seeking Purpose

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**Seeking Purpose**

Aerith carried Fate in her hair. Thinking that didn't make her Materia any more special.

"One day you'll know what it's for," the Planet said and Aerith rolled her eyes. She knew she needed to hold on to it, but she was nevertheless frustrated. Now, the Materia was just a pretty thing. Useless.

Sometimes Aerith searched her own heart for answers, scratching for knowledge she knew was there. Sometimes she searched for her mother, trying to hear what she remembered to be her voice. The silence was her answer, silence of which color she knew to be the elusive white.


	11. Undone

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**Undone**

A soldier named Zack existed. Feeling like a knot, Tifa followed Aerith outside.

She had wanted to believe. Oh, so much. She had wanted nothing more than to remember how the boy next had come home a soldier, even if for a while. Cloud's faith in that was so absolute, and Tifa had always been fickle. Wasn't it only natural that she had to be wrong?

But now Aerith was in tears, and back in the house two people missed their son, and no matter how hard she tried, the man smiling in her memory was dark instead of fair.


	12. Drawn In

**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square-Enix. No copyrights infringement intended.

**Drawn In**

Lucrecia liked sterility. She liked the cold, the void of emotion. It was one of the reasons that had drawn her to science, the comfort of facts and theory.

Absence of human interaction wasn't something she wanted, and she was happy to be in company of her intellect. What she didn't welcome was the smells that came along, the sweaty armpits, the hints of shampoo. They distorted the lab air.

The exception to that was Hojo, the faint metal of needles the only scent on him. His mind was like his body, iron cold, and Lucrecia found him incredibly attractive.


End file.
